Mexico's Growing Internet Audience Buoyed by Young Users

Nearly half of Mexico's population will go online in 2014

Mexico has the second-largest internet audience in Latin America following Brazil, though the country has not been as quick to adopt digital as other nations. eMarketer estimates that just under 50% of consumers in Mexico—59.4 million people—will go online regularly this year, an 11.9% jump from 2013. 2015 will mark the first year that the majority (53.8%) of the country’s population will do so.

Growth will slip into the high single digits beginning next year and lasting through 2018, driven by increasing fixed and mobile broadband access (especially in rural areas), a rising number of Wi-Fi hotspots and adoption among new users ages 11 and under, 25 to 34 and 55 and older. Recent reform supporting greater competition in Mexico’s telecom industry is also expected to help fuel mobile internet uptake and expand digital access. eMarketer estimates that by the end of 2018, 80.4 million people, or just under two-thirds of Mexico’s population, will use the internet monthly.

Teens and young adults make up the core internet audience in Mexico, with internet users 12 to 34 accounting for over 59% of the country’s total audience in 2014. Approximately 84.0% of teens 12 to 17 and 80.0% of young adults 18 to 24 will go online this year. Penetration will decline among users in the older age segments.

The number of children in Mexico who go online is growing at a faster pace compared with any other age group. Penetration among these young consumers is currently on par with users 55 to 64 but will rise substantially in the coming years. More than half of all children in Mexico will go online regularly by 2018, contributing to 16.7% of the total audience.

Internet usage in Mexico skews toward men. More than 53% of men and 46.4% of women will access the internet regularly in 2014, translating to shares of 52.2% male and 47.8% female. The gap in usage is expected to shrink through 2018 as more people gain internet access.

eMarketer bases all of its forecasts on a multipronged approach that focuses on both worldwide and local trends in the economy, technology and population, along with company-, product-, country- and demographic-specific trends, and trends in specific consumer behaviors. We analyze quantitative and qualitative data from a variety of research firms, government agencies, media outlets and company reports, weighting each piece of information based on methodology and soundness.

In addition, every element of each eMarketer forecast fits within the larger matrix of all its forecasts, with the same assumptions and general framework used to project figures in a wide variety of areas. Regular re-evaluation of each forecast means those assumptions and framework are constantly updated to reflect new market developments and other trends.

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